Soldiers remove debris from a partly collapsed municipal building felled by a massive earthquake in Juchitan, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on Sept. 8, 2017.

What We Know So Far

A huge magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck off Mexico's southern coast early on Sept. 8, and was felt across the region. The president called the tremor the biggest the country had experienced in a century.

At least 90 people are dead, according to government officials and media reports.

The epicenter of the quake was 102 miles west of the city of Tapachula in Chiapas.

Tsunami warnings are in place down the Mexican coast and Central America, with possible waves between nine and 13 feet. At-risk coastal areas in Mexico have been evacuated.

The US Geological Survey said that significant casualties and economic loss were likely. Images of destroyed buildings have circulated on social media.

A series of smaller aftershocks, including one magnitude 5.7, struck in the region after the initial earthquake.

BuzzFeed News

Updates

Posted at
Sep. 14, 2017, at 23:05 PM

Trump says bad cell phone service wouldn't allow him to call Mexico's president for days after earthquake

Evan Vucci / AP

President Trump blamed bad cell phone service for waiting until Thursday to call Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto after a massive earthquake struck the region nearly a week ago, killing 90 people.

However, just hours after the magnitude-8.2 earthquake devastated Mexico's southern states on Sept. 8, many national leaders from across the Americas reached out either via phone call or social media to offer condolences and assistance.

There were plenty of other suggestions that Peña Nieto was not struggling with cell reception while visiting the hardest hit areas of the earthquake earlier this week.

Peña Nieto, or someone on his staff, was also able to send tweets from the most damage-stricken states showing him meeting with local leaders and victims.

Death toll rises to 90

Mexican officials have increased the death toll from Friday's massive earthquake from 65 to 90, according to multiplereports.

The New York Times quoted Agueda Robles, a spokeswoman for the Oaxaca state civil protection agency, saying that the government has now confirmed 71 deaths in Oaxaca, on top of 15 in neighboring Chiapas and 4 in Tabasco.

—Ellen Cushing

Posted at
Sep. 10, 2017, at 07:40 AM

Death toll rises to 65, as Mexico mourns those killed by the strongest earthquake to hit the country in a century

The death toll in Mexico’s earthquake rose to 65 Saturday with three additional deaths reported in the southern state of Chiapas. The state government has now confirmed that 15 people died there in Thursday’s earthquake, which destroyed 1,000 homes in the state and damaged 5,000 others.

In Jucitan, the Oaxacan city hit hardest by the earthquake, emergency crews found the body of a missing police officer Saturday, raising the local death toll to 37 in a city where a third of the homes have been declared uninhabitable by Thursday’s 8.1-magnitude earthquake. A day earlier, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto visited the city, declaring a three-day period of national mourning for those killed by the earthquake.

Earlier Saturday, the governor of Veracruz reported that two people died in a mudslide caused by Tropical Storm Katia, which made landfall in Mexico overnight Friday. The governor, Miguel Angel Yunes, said there were no other reports of damage, but that 2,886 people were evacuated across the state due to the storm.

—Grace Wyler

Posted at
Sep. 09, 2017, at 01:03 AM

Mexico's president says 61 killed in devastating earthquake, declares three days of national mourning

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto declared three days of national mourning after visiting Oaxaca Friday, one of the hardest hit areas by the powerful earthquake.

Peña Nieto visited Juchitán de Zaragosa, Oaxaca, Friday afternoon to see the damage caused by the 8.2-magnitude quake. That district inside Oaxaca, Peña Nieto said, faced the deadliest consequences of the earthquake with 36 deaths.

Oaxaca has so far experienced the greatest loss of life, with at least 45 people confirmed killed as of Friday evening.

Twelve people were killed in Chiapas and another four died in the state of Tabasco, Peña Nieto said at a press conference.

"The force of nature can be devastating, but the force of the unity and solidarity of the Mexican people is much stronger," Peña Nieto said in a tweet Friday.

—Salvador Hernandez

Posted at
Sep. 08, 2017, at 22:14 PM

International leaders across North America have offered Mexico their support — except Trump

Evan Vucci / AP

International leaders have offered Mexico their support and condolences after dozens of people were killed in a destructive earthquake.

President Donald Trump, however, has not been one of them, a spokesperson for Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto confirmed to BuzzFeed News.

Other international leaders, including Canada's Justin Trudeau and Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos, have reached out to offer Peña Nieto's office support.

Although the US is Mexico's neighbor and one of its closest economic and political allies, Trump's administration had yet to reach out to Peña Nieto hours after the deadly 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck overnight.

Trump has also made no mention of the earthquake on Twitter, although other North American leaders have.

Peña Nieto also thanked all the national leaders on Twitter who had expressed solidarity and support for Mexico during this time.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether Trump planned to reach out to Peña Nieto's office, or why he had not yet done so as of Friday evening.

— Karla Zabludovsky and Salvador Hernandez

Posted at
Sep. 08, 2017, at 19:50 PM

Death toll rises to at least 60 as authorities continue to assess damage

Felix Marquez / AP

Three Navy sailors walk by the partially collapsed structure of an hotel in the town of Matias Romero, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Friday.

The number of people killed in the devastating earthquake that struck off southern Mexico early Friday rose to at least 60 as authorities continued to sift through rubble.

Luis Felipe Puente, the national coordinator of civil protection of the Ministry of the Interior, tweeted 45 people had been killed Oaxaca, the state hardest hit by the quake. In the state of Tabasco, three people were killed.

Chiapas Governor Manuel Velasco told local reporters the death toll in his state had climbed to 12 people as a result of the powerful earthquake.

"The priority at this moment is to help those families at risk and redouble our efforts to evaluate the damage," Chiapas Governor Manuel Velasco Coello said in a Facebook post.

— Salvador Hernandez

Posted at
Sep. 08, 2017, at 19:20 PM

Strong aftershocks recorded while Chiapas governor visits people affected by 8.2 quake

Strong aftershocks continue to be felt along the southern states of Mexico Friday, including two that struck while Chiapas governor was Facebooking live.

Governor Manuel Velasco has been Facebooking Live as he visits Tonalá, one of the affected towns by the strong earthquake. Velasco was going door to door, talking to residents whose homes were damaged when at least two aftershocks struck.

"It's shaking again," Velasco can be heard saying. "Get away from the walls!"

Velasco walked through town to homes hose roofs had caved in, walls were cracked, and broken floors appeared to be sinking into the ground.

According to the Mexico's National Seismology office, more than 337 aftershocks have been recorded as of 1 pm local time since the 8.2 quake struck. The strongest was measured at 6.1.

— Salvador Hernandez

Posted at
Sep. 08, 2017, at 19:10 PM

Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto landed in Oaxaca to see the hardest hit region

Mark Schiefelbein / AFP / Getty Images

Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto landed in Oaxaca Friday to see some of the hardest hit areas by the earthquake.

A spokesperson for the president confirmed he is flying to Juchitán de Zaragosa, one of the most affected towns in Oaxaca.

Peña Nieto also tweeted thanks to world leaders who have expressed solidarity and support to Mexico.

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Posted at
Sep. 08, 2017, at 16:28 PM

As many as 50 million people felt the earthquake as death toll rises to 32

Alfredo Estrella / AFP / Getty Images

According to President Enrique Peña Nieto, 50 million Mexicans felt the earthquake, which he said was the strongest in a century. There was an 8.2 earthquake in 1932 on the country's Pacific coast, however.

For many in Mexico, Thursday night brought back memories of the magnitutde-8.0 earthquake in 1985 which leveled parts of Mexico City and killed as many as 10,000 people, though the number is disputed.

That earthquake, which prompted strict modifications to building codes, is remembered every September 19, when many buildings across the country hold earthquake drills.

Two minors were also confirmed dead in the area of Tabasco, bringing the total number of people killed in the earthquake to 32. Peña Nieto tweeted that at least 200 people were injured and that 260 aftershocks have been recorded.
—Karla Zabludovsky

Posted at
Sep. 08, 2017, at 14:42 PM

At least 23 people were killed in the Oaxaca region and 7 in Chiapas

Oaxaca governor Alejandro Murat said in a television interview that 23 people died in the region alone.

Luis Manuel Garcia, head of Civil Protection in Chiapas, said in a radio interview that seven people died in the area.

As of Friday morning, more than 185 aftershocks were recorded, according to the national seismology service.

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos and Karla Zabludovsky

Posted at
Sep. 08, 2017, at 14:07 PM

Quake magnitude adjusted up to 8.2 from 8.1, Mexico's national seismology agency says

A major earthquake hit the southern coast Mexico early Friday morning, causing at least two deaths and prompting tsunami warnings down Central America.

The 8.1 magnitude quake struck off the coast of the Mexican state of Chiapas, at a depth of about 20 miles, the US Geological Survey said. The epicenter of the quake was located about 102 miles west of the city of Tapachula.

Citing local officials, the Associated Press and other media reported that at least two people had been killed in the quake, though BuzzFeed News could not immediately confirm the death toll. The USGS said that significant casualties and economic loss were likely as a result of the quake.

The earthquake was widely felt across the region, including in Mexico City, more than 600 miles from the epicenter. Images from the capital appeared to capture buildings and other structures swaying violently from the temblor.

In Mexico City, people fled from shaking buildings onto the street, some still in robes and without shoes.

Standing on a corner in the leafy Condesa neighborhood, Sophie Mallentjer, a 24-year-old student from Belgium, said she had been leaving the bathroom at a house party when she felt the tremors.

“I thought I was drunk, and I walked out thinking I was drunk, but then everyone was rushing out,” she told BuzzFeed News. “And then I realized it was an earthquake.”

A half hour later, she was still on the street with a group of six other exchange students. Across the city, no one seemed particularly eager to go back inside, as they anxiously awaited potential aftershocks.

Claudia Daut / Reuters

People gather on a street after an earthquake hit Mexico City late Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said hazardous tsunami waves more than 9 feet high were possible along the coast of Mexico in the aftermath of the quake, and that waves higher than 3 feet were possible in El Salvador, Guatemala, and even as far as Ecuador, American Samoa, Fiji, and other places across the Pacific.

Mexican officials warned of tsunami waves higher than 13 feet. Alejandro Murat, the governor of Oaxaca, asked people to evacuate areas that were at risk.

However, NOAA reported that the Pacific coast of the United States, British Columbia, and Alaska were not facing the threat of a tsunami from the earthquake.

A series of smaller quakes, including one magnitude 5.7, struck the same region in the minutes following the larger temblor.

In response to the quake, Mexico's education secretary announced that schools would be closed Friday in Mexico City, as well as in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and other parts of the country affected by the quake.